The Noble War
by winschester
Summary: "Maybe he should just volunteer. He'd be able to kill anyone he wants then he'd let a little girl win by killing himself. It'd be perfect, he knows. He's ready for the noble war." Tate/Violet Hunger Games AU. Inspired by LucyCrewe11's These Games We Play.
1. Chapter 1

_The Noble War_

He wakes up early in his room, hands under his pillow, eyes wondering around the house. He sighs. He's not scared, no, he was never scared of these days, but he's worried, not for himself, of course, he's prepared for the noble war, but for his sister.

He knows he'd volunteer for her if he was a girl if she was chosen, but he's not and she's 14 and she's passed 2 years and he just hopes that the odds are in his- _her _favour.

He knows the cock sucker is worried about her too, but also him. They're the only ones left, with his brother dead and his step father gone, or kicked out maybe, and she looks like dying when someone talks about the Games, she tries to change the subject and he can't stand her- he sometimes just wants to volunteer for anyone to be free, to get away from her.

He sighs. Today's probably going to be like the usual reapings, dress nice, act nice, watch someone get selected, hear families cry, return the ugly place called home and watch the Games for a week the most. Perfect.

He needs to stand up, eat some bread and well, maybe walk around the distirct to see people scared- he likes seeing people scared, he doesn't know why. He just does.

So he stands up, runs his hands over his face, closes his eyes, then opens them again. His sister is still asleep in the next room, he realizes, as he walks out and enters the cold living room.

"Morning," his mother calls, he rolls his eyes. He does not like her, he never did after the day his father left and he treats her like an insect and he loves it- he loves the look she gives when he swears or shouts or screams. He hates her and she knows it. She has to live with it, though.

"Do we have any bread?" he asks, she nods over the table, he blinks and walks over it. There are a few small pieces, he leaves two for Addie and takes the other 2 for himself, taking one of them in his mouth and walking over the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" the cock sucker asks, he still can't stand her; her voice, her looks, her acting. It's too annoying for him.

"I'm going to walk around for a while," he mumbles, she raises her eyebrows.

"On the day of the reaping? No way," the cock sucker shakes her head, she probably has to make sure that they're there, with her. He doesn't want that. Never did.

"I'm going out," he insists, she stands up and walks over, grabbing him by the wrist.

"You are staying here and that is the end. The reaping's going to start in a few hours and you need to get ready."

He closes is eyes. He tries not to think about squeezing her throat until she dies, to beat her up, to do anything to make her shut up. He sighs.

"Fine," he mumbles and returns back to his room, shuts the door behind him- so loud that he can hear Addie yawning and waking up. He doesn't want her to be sad.

Maybe he should just volunteer this year, eh? It would be perfect. He'd be able to kill anyone he wants, then he'd let a little girl win by protecting her and killing himself.

It'd be perfect. He's ready for the noble war.

But no, he can't leave his sister alone with the cock sucker, he can't. He loves her too much for that. He sighs again.

Maybe he'll get chosen. Maybe he'll have to go away. Than it wouldn't be his fault. He wants to kill. He wants to save people, save them from this disgusting world. He closes his eyes and lies down on his bed.

He knows he's not lucky enough.

_**-vt-vt-vt-vt-vt-**_

"Violet Harmon!" calls Amelia, as he stands there with the other boys. Amelia is nice, you can see she hates the Capitol more than anything by the way she acts, he likes her a little. She sometimes talks to him and gives him food after the reaping. She comes with a different hair color every year, this year it's orange.

He watches as the well, beautiful to be honest, Violet girl walk on the stage. She does not show fear. By looking at her expression, he can understand that she's ready for this war too, she's noble enough to fight.

He likes her.

He knows her a little, though. At least her surname. Ben Harmon works as a Peacekeeper, but he's nice. He lets them do stuff that they shouldn't be doing. He knows he's desperate right now, because he's next to Amelia and he's crying.

Amelia walks over the other bowl.

That's it. One of the boys, old or young will be gone again, probably won't come back because it's how it works in District 7. He sighs. He watches Amelia as she tries to look in the bowl, trying to pick an old boy, to save others, the young ones.

He still likes her after all those years.

"Tate Langdon!" she calls, her voice is kind of weak. He know she cares about her, he does but this is not what he's thinking right now.

He doesn't really want to admit, but he's happy. Kind of. He'll be able to kill, to save people from this bad bad world and he's proud of himself.

For him, the odds are in his favour.

He stands next to Violet as Amelia starts talking, the classic speech, and he looks at Violet for once again.

She's still beautiful.

And he knows that he does not want to kill her. He does not.

He wants her to live. He wants her to be happy.


	2. Chapter 2

They -the ugly, old Peacekeeper and the one who smirks all the time- take him to the Justice Building. He doesn't show an expression on the way, not even when he's sitting next to Violet. He likes her, because she smells like strawberries and trees. She's crying silently next to him.

When they reach the Justice building, their eyes meet. She looks at him for a second, like a small child and blinks. He just bites his lower lip, and nods slowly. She looks away, then two other Peacekeepers take her to her room.

_Fuck, _is his thought as he realizes. This is when Constance is coming to talk to him with Addie. He curses under his breath as he remembers the morning, the reaping, Amelia calling Violet's then his name.

So when Constance comes with a red face and tears streaming down her face, he just keeps on sitting on the most comfortable seat he has ever seen, and blinks. He doesn't even look at her face.

"Tate," is a whisper. She's so weak that it's funny, he never loved her and she knew it, so why does she care? She knows he won't come back, -dying is too perfect for him and he loves the idea,- but still cries? Why can't she even accept it?

It's so funny that he chuckles. He chuckles like a madman to scare her off, so he can be alone. There's pretty much no one to come and say goodbye to him, and he doesn't care. He's that weirdo who always plays with pencils and never talks to anyone, not really.

"Tate." it's louder now, a warning. She's finally getting angry. She's finally giving him a reason to kill her off. He stands up, frowning, looking at her throat. She'll be dead in a minute and they won't be able to do a thing because he's a fucking tribute now, they can't kill him.

So he reaches over her throat and she's shouting and then he-

_Adelaide._

He looks at her, eyes wide, tears running down her cheeks, face pale. She looks so afraid, so weak and he wants to cry. So he stops. Constance looks at him with a shocked expression, then slaps him.

He stops.

It's so original- he's seeing every moment of disgust that happened between them through his life, and he's back to normal.

If you call _this _normal.

He walks over Addie, hugs her slowly and plants a kiss on her forehead, whispers, "I love you Addie. Stay safe. Live well," then walks to the same seat. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and looks at her.

"Go away." is a warning, just like hers. She looks at his face, the face that has a hand mark on it, to see a sign of love, of something positive about her. All she sees is hate.

"Lets go Addie," she whispers, holds Addie's hand tightly. Like she doesn't want to loose her too. Like she doesn't want her to turn out as him.

He doesn't care.

.

Violet Harmon never gets scared.

When the girls that hate her, that loathe her, that despise her try to scare her off with dead animal bodies, weapons and shit like that, she laughs. She laughs until they're gone, because it's funny. It doesn't scare her.

The reapings never scare her. Really. She watches, gets a little sad but doesn't really care. She looks at the screen but doesn't see, she never sees. She just stares. Sometimes her father brings her food and her mother talks to her about what she's done today at school, or if she's made any friends (the topic doesn't really come out anymore, after 8 years she's finally understood the fact that she will never have friends) but other than that, she just stares.

But now, the idea of being a part of the Games makes a shiver run through her spine.

She's lucky though. Her father is a Peacekeeper and they live better than most of the District. She knows that Peacekeepers can't get married and have children, but President Snow likes Ben Harmon.

That's why they give him 10 minutes.

He comes in with her mother, Vivian and they hug her. They hug her so tight that tears appear on her eyes and she can't poperly breathe. She coughs, and they realize and laugh nervously as tears appear in their eyes.

"I'm- I'm sorry." she whispers, her mother hugs her again. She knows she's been the worst daughter ever, swearing and shouting and screaming and puking and cutting her wrists, and she's sorry. Kind of.

"We both love you, alright?" Ben Harmon whispers in her hair. It's so dramatic that it's almost funny. She nods quickly, looks down.

"I know you're good at archery, love." he continues, "Your- your teachers, they saw you during lessons." he sighs. "Just try to win, darling. We'll always be here. I'll do anything I can to help-" his voice is too weak for him to speak so he coughs.

He isn't lying, though. She's kind of good at archery. She likes the sound that the arrow makes as she lets it go, lets it fly. She likes the wood of her bow, the string, she loves the feeling. But it won't help. She's not good enough to save herself.

They stand there, hugging, crying. A Peacekeeper comes to say that they only have a minute, Ben nods, and looks at her.

"Take this," he gives her his old necklace, the necklace he wore when he had to kill someone. She shakes her head, "I have mine. I can only bring one." she shrugs, Ben sighs.

"Then give it to Tate. Just make sure one of you wears this." She nods, and soon, they're gone.

She sits on the ground, or falls to be literal, and stares at the carpet. She doesn't want to go. She doesn't want to kill people, for fuck's sake. She closes her eyes as a tear runs down her cheek.

For the first time in her life, Violet Harmon is scared.


End file.
